Head Gasket

Yeah..the water pump which is the cambelt tensioner being seized into the block. Make sure you get a new water pump O ring. If it is indeed stuck, remove the hose that comes out of the rear of where it is and whack it out with a lump of wood (as a drift) and a hammer.

Won't save much going elsewhere.

Will the belt not stretch enough to slip it off the cog and then slip it back on?

I really don't want to remove the belt totally if poss

If the water pump tensions the belt, and it's seized and there's enough slack to let the belt slip off the pump pulley, will the belt not probably be goosed?

Seriously dude, not changing the belt when the head is off is a massive bodge. How long do you expect the car to last?

If the belt's at the right tension there's no way you'll be able to get it off without slackening the tensioner. If the tensioner is the water pump and it's seized in position then I don't think you'll be able to change the pump without removing the belt. If the belt's off, why not change it especially if you're going to the trouble of changing the head gasket.

ok i will :)

If I shaft it, it's a 200 quid car, so i am not that worried.

Any advice to change Cam belt will be handy though... thx

Dunno about the specifics of doing it on an Astra, but if you don't have the confidence to remove the belt, then replace it, it's usually possible to split the belt lengthways, (so it's only half as wide), remove half, then slip a new one on. Once it's on, cut the rest of the old one off.

Nice idea thanks tony..

Sounds a bit fiddly compared with marking the block and sprockets with Tip-Ex.

There's a very good chance you'll need to remove the head completely so you can cleanup the head and block to get a smooth surface it parts of the old gasket are sticking to it. If you can I'd soak the exhaust manifold and downpipe studs and bolts with WD40 today, you'll stand a slightly better chance of getting them off tomorrow if you need to before resorting to more drastic methods. Are Vauxhall head studs re-useable or the stretch type?

assume small block 1600 :)

piece of cake loosen the tensioner and slip it off :)

just remember and mark the pulleyts

was rforever doing h/g's on the old nova sheds

it's a 1.4 8v :)

Very small engine, loads of room to work

Thx homer, I don't know if they are stretch bolts, but they will be going back in :)

This is literally a quick job to fix a problem,

It's a very easy job.

Yes, it's much easier doing this than taking the cambelt cover off at the bottom and removing it.

I'd get the genuine bits from a Vauxhall dealer and doubt if they'd be any more expensive. You should replace the head bolts as they stretch but it's not essential.

Leave the manifolds attached to the head and just take the entire lot off in one go.

You can just about on 8v Vauxhall engines and it makes it much easier. To change the belt you need to take the crank pulley off so the bottom part of the cambelt cover can come off.

Didn't manage to slip the belt when it was tensioned on my Polo (admittedly not a Vauxhall) so I took the cam pulley off as it looked easier than the crank pulley.

Yeah, I remember now that's why I didn't change the belt on the Polo when I changed the water pump. (c:

Thanks james, will let you know how it goes tommorow if we don't get this monsoon we are supposed to get :)